Gas-bxtbneb valve-operating device



Jul 26 1927.

y A. J. FRASER GAS BURNER VALVE OPERATING DEVICE Filed Jan. 21 1926 Jfrmf (firmer:

Patented July 26, 1927.

UNITED STATES ALFRED J. FRASER,

OF EL PASO, TEXAS.

GAS-BURNER VALVE-OPERATIN G DEVICE.

Application filed January My invention is an improvement in valve operating devices, and relates' more especially to means for controlling the operation of the gas burner of a water heater such as used in connection with a domestic hot water tank or boiler.

The primary object of my invention is to provide simple and efiective means whereby the burner of a hot water heater may be conveniently turned on at a distance therefrom, as for instance when the heater is located in the cellar of a dwelling it may be turned on from the kitchen above, bath-room, or any other place in the house where the hot water is to be used and thus obviate the necessit of going to the cellar for the purpose; t e mechanism also providing for automatically closing the valve of the gas burner when a predetermined volume of water has been heated in the tank or boiler.

With this primary object in view my invention contemplates providing the gasburner of a water heater with a plungervalve spring-actuated to closed position and means for opening the valve against the action of the spring, including a catch for holding it open; said valve opening means being operated in the present instance by airpressure communicated from one or more aircompressors or bellows located at a distance from the burner through a tube or tubes to a bellows operating directly on the valve opening means; together with a thermostat for automatically releasing the catch and thereby closing the spring-actuated valve to turn off the burner when a predetermined volume of water has been heated; all as hereinafter fully described and more particularly set forth in the appended clalms.

In the accompanyin drawings which form a part of this specification:

Figure 1 is a front elevation illustrating the application of my invention to a conventional type of water-heater connected to a stand-boiler.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of the means for operating the valve of the gas-burner, the front plate of the casing enclosing the same being removed.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. i is a detail sectional view of the locking and releasing means for the plungervalve, and

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of the air- 21, 1926. Serial No. 82,528.

compressor for operating the valve opening mechanism.

My invention is adapted to be applied to a conventional type of water-heater such as illustrated in Fig. l and designated by the numeral 10, said heater having the ordinary form of gas-burner 11 (indicated by dotted lines) for heating the water and to which the gas is supplied by pipe 12 and interpose valve 13, (Figs. 2 and 3), with a small tube 14 coupled to the gas-supply pipe at one side of the valve to provide a pilothght in connection with the gas-burner, as will be understood.

In the present instance I employ an ordinary torm of plunger-valve 13 for controlhug the supply of gas to the burner 11 and couple the same to the gas supply pipe and burner in such manner as to assist in supporting a circular casing 15 which encloses said valve and also contains the mechanism for operating the same. For this purpose the valve is provided at its upper end with a pipe extension 16 passing through the lower end of the casing and coupled thereto with its outer end threaded to receive the burner supply pipe 16*, and with a pipe extension 17 beyond the coupling 18 for the pilotb urner l t, said last mentioned pi e extension passing through the side of t e casing beyond the same to receive the gas-Suppl pipe 12 The bod portion of the box-like cas1ng 1s preferab y a casting with the circulanslde wall enlarged or thickened where the pipe extensions 16 and 17 pass through the same, and said body portion is provided with a removable cover 19.

The valve-rod 20 projects from the top of the valve and is spring-actuated to close the same loy means of a helical spring 21 surrounding said rod and interposed between a lug 22 secured thereon and a guide-member 23 at the upper part of the casing through which the rod passes, the upper end of the rod being formed into an eye to receive a ring by which the valve may be opened independently of the opening mechanism herelnafter described. An upward pull on the rod 20 opens the valve 13, and in order to hold it open a spring catch 25 is attached at its lower end to the lug 22 on the valverod from which it extends so that the hookend of said catch will en age the upper edge of a projection 26 at the lower end of a member 2? attached to the rear wall of the casing, said catch-engaging member being formed integrally with a coupling 28 which also carries the guide-member 23 formed integrally therewith and through which the valve-rod 20 passes as hereinbefore explained, it bein noted by reference to Fig. 4 that the pro ection providing the guidemember is recessed vertically to receive a spring-finger, hereinafter referred to, for tripping the catch. The coupling 28 is threaded through the back of the casing to receive a thermostat for automatically releasing the catch, said thermostat comprising a tube 29 threaded in the outer end of sald couplin with an expansible rod 30 enclosed within the tube and projecting through the coupling to act on the springfinger 31 which is attached at its upper end by screw 32 to an upward extension of the coupling and extends downward through the aforementioned recess in the rear of guidemember 23 to normally abut against the front of the member 27 immediately above the projection 26 thereof with which the catch 25 engages so that an outward movement of said spring-finger will release the catch, and this movement is imparted either automatically by expansion of the rod 30 or manually by means of a lever 33 pivoted to one side of guide-member 23 with its rearwardly-projecting arm bent back of the catch-engaging member 27 and terminating in a pin 34 rojecting through an opening in said mem lier 27 to engage the springfinger. The forwardly-pro ecting operatingmember 35 of the lever extends through an openin 39 in the cover plate 19 of the case to receive a pull 36 for o crating said lever. It will he understood that the expansible rod 30 of the thermostat when contracted abuts lightly against the trip finger 31, when the latter is in normal position, and against a plug 37threaded in the outer end of the tube carrying the rod, being confined between the finger and plug so that when it is heated to a certain temperature by the water in the boiler it will expand and actuate the trip-finger to release the catch permitting the valve to be closed by the spring 21; thus providing for closing the valve automatically when a predetermined quantity of water has been heated" in the tank or standboiler A.

The lug 22 which carries the spring catch 25 is secured to the valve-rod 20 by a setscrew 22 so that the catch may be adjusted with respect to the catch engaging member 27.

As hereinbefore stated the gas-burner valve may be opened by a ull on the rod 20-the burner eing ignit by pilot-1i ht and the catch holding the valve open an it may be closed by a pull on the ring 36 which operates the lever 33 to trip the catch, thus providing for manipulating the burner valve at the water-heater when desired; but in order to light the heater by turning on the valve from a distance, for instance from a kitchen or bath-room located some distance away from said heater, I provide auxiliary mechanism for lifting the valve-rod 20 and operate said mechanism by cooperating means, which I shall now describe.

The auxiliary mechanism for opening the valve comprises a lever 38 pivoted at one end in a bracket 39 attached to the rear wall of the casing and having its other end resting a' ainst the underside of the lug 22 attache to the valve-rod, the required upward movement being imparted to said lever by means of a bellows 40 which is interposed between the lever and plate 39 of the bracket, said bellows being of an ordinary type and in the present insta'nce receives air under pressure through a tube 41 connected to an air-compressor 42. Any desired form of aircompressor may be used for forcing air into the bellows 40 to give the relquired impulse to the operating-lever 38 but vice illustrated in Fig. 5, whic is operated by a push-button 43 and consists of a hollow block or casing 42 enclosing a bellows 44 operated by the push-button and normally expanded by a spring 45 around the stem of the push-button and interposed between the button and bottom of a recess 46 in the casing. Although I have shown but a single air-compressor it will be understood that the tube 41 may be provided with several branches-one for the kitchen, another for the bath-room, and so onwhereby the gasburner may be turned on from different places, being turned off automatically by the thermostat.

The utility of the operating mechanism for the gas-burner of the water-heater will be apparent from the foregoing description in connection with the accompanying drawings, for when it is desired to turn on the heater from the distant point where an air-compressor 42 is located-it is only necessary to push on the button 43 of said air-compressor which 0 eration will compress bellows 44 and expand ellows 40 thus operating lever 38 to raise the valve-rod 20, and as the catch 25 is carried by said valve-rod it will engage the fixed member 27 to hold the valve open until said catch is tripped by the thermostat operating the trip-fin er 31. By this arrangement it will not e necessary to go to the cellar where the water-heater is located to turn it on and off, although the operations may be accom lished at the heater by manipulating the va ve-rod 20 and lever 35.

I claim:

1. Valve operatin mechanism for the gas burner of a watereater comprising a rerefer the deciprocating valve operating rod havin a lug thereon, a spring actuating the ro to close the valve, a lever for operating the rod against the action of the spring to open the valve, and means for operating said lever; together with a catch carried by the lug on the valve-rod and engaging a fixed member for holding the valve open, a spring-finger engaging the catch for releasing the same, and a thermostat operatin the spring-finger.

2. Valve operatin mechanism for the gas burner of a watereater, comprising a reciprocating valve operating rod having a lug thereon, a spring encircling the rod and interposed betweenthe lug and a guide for the upper end of the rod for actuating said rod to close the valve, a lever pivoted at one end to a support and bearing against the underside of the lug at the other end, a bellows operating the lever to raise the rod for opening the valve, and an air-compressor connected to the bellows for forcing air into the same; together with a catch carried by the lug on the valve-rod and engaging a fixed member for holding the valve open, and means for releasing the catch.

3. Valve operatin mechanism for the gas burner of a watereater comprising a reciprocating valve operating rod having a lug thereon, a spring encircling the rod and interposed between the lug and a guide for the upper end of the rod for actuating said rod to close the valve, a lever pivoted at one end to a support and bearing against the underside of the lug at the other end,

bellows operating the lever to raise the rod for openin the valve, and an air-compressor connected y tube to the bellows for forcing air into the same; together with a catch carried by the lug on the valve-rod and engaging a fixed member for holding the valve open, and means operated by a thermostat for releasing the catch.

4. Valve operating mechanism for the gas burner of a water-heater comprising a plunger-valve with an operating-rodvhaving a lug thereon, a sprin encircling the rod and interposed between the lug and a guide for the upper end of the rod for actuating said rod to close the valve, a lever pivoted at one end to a support and bearing against the underside of the lug at the other end to actuate the valve rod, bellows operating the lever for depressing the rod to open the valve, and an air-compressor connected by tube to the bellows for forcing air into the same, said air-compressor comprising bellows and a spring-actuated push-button for operating it; together with a catch carried by the lug on the valve-rod and engaging a fixed member for holding the valve open, a spring-finger for tripping the catch, a thermostat for operating the spring-finger, and a lever for operating said spring-finger independently of the thermostat.

ALFRED J. FRASER. 

